By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 19

Chapter 5 Episode 19: Moulton Slave Trading Company

The next day...

“What a lovely day... Maybe it’s because I haven’t left my room in a while. It seems brighter, somehow.”

Reinhart savored the small patch of sunlight that came out as they walked from the first entrance to the carriage. As annoyed as he was by the event, I couldn’t help but think of how busy Reinhart must have been. Which reminded me...

“Are you sure about this? It’s a huge help for me, but I feel bad having you waste your day off on me.”

“I’m happy to help you out. To be honest, I haven’t been able to relax during my days off anyway. I used to spend a lot of my time off playing with or teaching Elia, but now that she’s at the academy...I’ve caught myself working on my days off out of sheer boredom.”

“Mr. Reinhart... Not that I have room to talk, but...”

“Yes, I know... I think I’m beginning to understand how you feel now.”

More collateral damage caused by Elia’s attending the academy... Everyone was worried about Elia before she left, but now I’m beginning to think that the parents were the ones who needed help. In any case, I did appreciate the company, and definitely wanted to prevent Reinhart from becoming a full-blown workaholic. That being said...

“Are we going to a dangerous establishment?” I asked.

“No, not dangerous. But I would hesitate to send you alone, Master Ryoma...”

“The place itself is fine. Its representative, on the other hand...”

Serge, Pioro and Fay were joining me and Reinhart. We were headed for the Moulton Slave Trading Company. After some discussion the previous night, I had decided to work on construction during the afternoon. I had mentioned the Company as a way to kill time in the morning. As soon as I did, these three practically insisted on coming along.

I pointed out that Fay alone could be an adult coming with me, but that didn’t seem to be the issue. Accordingly, Serge had only given me the information to provide me with a safe option if I were ever in need of such services, not that he was in favor of coming here... It was clear that something had happened at this establishment before, and he was hesitant to tell me.

“Something wrong with the owner?”

“Yeah. I mean, you don’t have to worry about being ripped off or anything. You can trust him when it comes to doing business, and that’s his one good quality.”

“It’s only been a few years since he took over the business, but he has kept the good things about his predecessor’s business model, and has made improvements where needed. In particular, his talent for judging one’s character is something else. Definitely more talented than any of us, and I dare say he’s on the same level as the Guildmaster.”

I was reminded of the elderly lady who served as master of the Gimul business guild.

“He sounds like a very talented businessman.”

“He is. And that may be why...”

“Those with genius talents are hard for ordinary people to understand, I suppose. Long story short, he’s an eccentric one.”

“Says a lot of sketchy things too. I wouldn’t want Elia to be in the same room with him.”

Elia...? Putting all the verbal cues together, I wondered... Was this guy a ped—

No. I won’t judge him until we’ve met.

“Pardon my interruption,” the coachman called, informing us that we were nearly there.

As we were preparing to get out, the carriage slowed down and went through a large gate. While it didn’t quite compare to the Duke’s manor, the expansive grounds, the size of the building, and its exterior all exuded picture-perfect nobility.

We climbed out of the carriage, and a clerk dressed like a butler immediately approached us. My three companions wore a bitter expression.

“Duke. Mr. Serge of the Morgan Trading company, and Mr. Pioro of the Saionji company. Welcome.”

“Nice to see you, Orest.”

“Why’re you working out front? Don’t you have a business to manage?”

“I appreciate your concern, sir. Of course I don’t neglect my managerial duties, but it’s vital for me to oversee how each department of the company operates. I trust you will concur?” The man coolly countered.

He must have been the company bigwig, but he was much younger than I had expected. He might have even been in his mid-twenties. He had a clean, handsome look that reminded me of a stereotypical start-up CEO.

“Such a wonderful surprise, to receive a visit from such wonderful company as yours...” He added, and his eyes set on me. “Forgive me. My name is Orest Moulton, president of the company.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m Ryoma Takebayashi.”

“Mr. Takebayashi. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

He didn’t seem out of the ordinary to me. He treated a kid like me with the same respect as the Duke and a major businessman...which might have been strange in its own right, come to think of it. But I still didn’t see why the three were so bitter about the man. Meanwhile, he suggested that we should continue our conversation in a more comfortable setting. With a call to Fay, who hadn’t had a chance to join the conversation, we entered the establishment.

The interior of the building was also as extravagant as a noble’s manor, but there were many chairs and reception counters in the entrance hall; it was set up like a post office, or a city clerk’s office. There were about five people already in the lobby, but none of them looked like nobles, or even like they had wealth approaching that of nobles...

“Might this have been out of line with your expectations?” Orest asked with a polite chuckle.

“Honestly, it is. Partially because this doesn’t look like any shop I’ve ever been in, but I was expecting a slave market to be more...dark and grimy.”

“Unfortunately, some businesses are far smaller, and abysmally maintained. At the end of the day, the slaves are human beings too. And from a business perspective, we need our products to be in impeccable health. That’s why the Moulton company provides comfortable, clean rooms to our slaves and keeps them well-fed, in addition to maintaining a full-time medical staff to ensure their health.” He went on to explain that in order to provide those things to the slaves, they had to expand their business. They simply needed more rooms. “Of course, most of our shops are not as extravagant as this one. The building once belonged to a noble, who put the manor up for sale. My father bought it and made some renovations to it.”

“I see.” So my initial impression wasn’t off the mark.

“This way, please.”

We were shown to a room with a simple rectangular table and about a dozen chairs. It seemed to be of an ideal size, considering how some of the slaves could be called upon to join any clients in the room. Seeing how Orest showed me to the chair opposite his own, he already seemed to recognize that I was going to be his customer for today. He had focused much of his attention on me on our way up to the room too.

It’s anyone’s guess how he managed to figure it out before we said anything... The man did seem as astute as the description I’d heard.

Quite casually, Orest rang a bell placed on the desk, and told the woman who emerged from a neighboring room to bring us some drinks. The entire interaction was ridiculously smooth.

“Now, Mr. Takebayashi... What kind of slaves may I interest you in?”

“Well...” I explained about the business I was running, and that I was looking for security personnel. “I need someone who can look after themselves, and they must be trustworthy. And since I have my business to see to...”

“I understand,” Orest chimed in. “You may find a short-term hire through the Adventurer’s Guild, but a long-term fit may be hard to come by.”

Adventurers who knew what they were doing could usually make more money through monster hunting than by taking on a civilian job. Some might accept a temp position, and I didn’t expect finding someone with adequate prowess, and who happened to be considering retiring from adventuring, was going to be easy.

“First and foremost, I’m looking for someone with honorable character. Of course, any strength in combat would be a bonus, but as long as they have the basics down, I can have our person in charge of security here, Fay, train them to a certain extent.” I wanted to see the character and skill of the slave for myself, and consider their price. Carme had given me permission to make a deal on the spot if they had someone exceptional to offer us. Given what we were looking for, I doubted that it would come to that.

“Character first...” Moulton stood, grabbing a pile of documents from the shelf behind him, and placed a bookmark in it before bringing it to us. “Thank you for your patience. We keep books on all of our slaves. Please pick a few candidates from our list of those with combat skills.”

We were made to select a few from their ‘resume’ before moving on to interviews. He had given us the book right-side-up, where each page included the slave’s name, sex, race, and experience, as well as each of their skills and their respective level.

“These are very detailed...”

“The value of a slave depends highly on what kind of work they can produce, as well as the knowledge or skills they possess. Slaves are required to show their status board. We look at that information and price them accordingly. From what you’ve mentioned to me, Mr. Takebayashi, I recommend the ones around... here. Slaves who hold level 2 or 3 combat skills. We can narrow our range down to those who have highly-rated character and personality.”

“I see the prices fluctuate quite a bit, even among those with similar skill sets.”

“Some slaves have sold themselves to repay a debt. As slave traders, we must pay their lenders their entire debt upon completing the transaction.”

So their price had to at least be greater than the amount of debt they had incurred, in order for them to turn a profit on those slaves.

“Precisely, sir,” Moulton confirmed.

Thanks to the well-organized papers and Moulton’s thorough explanation, my first slave transaction was going rather smoothly. Why are Reinhart and the others still so apprehensive of Moulton, anyway?